Front-month Brent crude oil futures were at $77.63 a barrel at 0221 GMT, 1 cent above their last close.

"Mounting perception of a weakening in global oil demand due to increasing tariff issues between the USA and China, while extremely hard to measure, will be maintaining some negative influence in keeping would-be buyers sidelined", Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note.

"One discussion that is developing is that (trade tensions) are hurting demand for crude oil".

Since most crude oil trading is in USA dollars, a strengthening of the US currency can make the commodity more expensive in other currencies. "The second one is global economic growth momentum slowing down", IEA chief Fatih Birol told an energy conference in Singapore.

USA sanctions on Iran are set to take effect on November 4, but it is still not clear how big an impact the loss of Iranian oil will make on global supply.

That's an increase of 10 million bpd since the start of the decade and means that these three producers alone now meet a third of global crude demand.

The administration of US President Donald Trump is preparing to launch a series of sanctions against Iran from November 4 in which a universal ban on the country's oil exports appears to be a primary objective.

The US dollar index also rose, supported by robust US consumer spending data.

Washington reintroduced sanctions against Iran's currency trade, metals and auto sectors in August after US withdrawal from a multinational 2015 deal that lifted sanctions in return for limits on Iran's nuclear program.

Fund managers have cut their bullish positions in crude futures and options for four weeks in a row to their lowest since July 2017, as the demand outlook grows more uncertain.

The United States is set to impose new sanctions on Iranian crude from next week and exports from the Islamic Republic have already begun to fall.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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